My problem is turning right at the intersection of a 2-lane road and a 4-lane highway with turn lanes and a median. Drivers turning left off the highway don't give me the right of way I deserve as a right-turner on GREEN but start into their turn and THEN check to see who may be turning into the lane or using the crosswalk. It's a long way from their left-turn lane to their target lane on the 2-lane. Lots of YIKEs! and more than a few crashes. I'm waiting for a turning driver to see the right-turner, stop, and get wiped out by a semi they thought they could beat.

I agree about the woman. I'd lighten the coat to blue-gray and brown her hair color so she isn't the focal point. It doesn't help that she is almost in focus while nothing else is.

Down in the South, we have an expression when someone gets unnecessarily fussy: 'Well, isn't that precious!'

We don't see the insect that extreme magnification brings out of our photos. We don't usually see it in B&W, blue tint, or sepia. Most darkroom tricks and lens technologies allow us to show what we did NOT see. It isn't about what we saw; it's about producing a (usually) 2-D representation that only starts with 'what we saw' and allows us to see more and to see differently.

Embrace the tech.

I have a good friend who adjusts her photos using a number of program techniques. She wins awards for her work frequently. Search for Cindy Karp.

I mention this because you have done a very nice job with this photo. I wonder, though, what is the point? There are so many things a photographer can do to enhance the presentation of a photo, make it more interesting, increase its impact, add meaning. Why imitate what an artist could do with paint?

The card players are the interesting part of the photo. The starburst is way to strong. I cropped everything below the foliage line and got a rather pleasant late afternoon sunbeam photo of the card players and the field. Do you have the pixel count for this?

Sunflowers follow the sun but it always seems they are watching someone, in this case, you.

I also saw the writing on the wall and bought a Huawei P30 Pro. The Leica camera is excellent! Note that it is a Leica, an old name in cameras, a new name in phone cameras. That is the vector of success for the old-line companies. Why not a camera that is light, easy to pocket, and includes a smartphone? Think of it as a mirrorless electronic camera with connectivity. I do miss the flexibility of Canon's rear screen. Hope Leica's working on that.

The trouble with Carbonite is that they wipe files after 30 days. If you inadvertently wipe a set of photos from your drive or camera, and fail to notice them gone, after 30 days or so they ARE gone. So it's a good back-up but not storage.

OTOH, when my computer's brain decided to take a holiday I notified them and they held the account open and all files could be restored.

I think the foreground is interesting but a bit barren. Isn't this where you write Happy Holidays?

I'm glad I'm not the only fumble-fingers who finds phones hard to handle when using them as cameras.

I good summary for when you must take a phone picture. Thanks.

Sales of 'traditional' cameras of all kinds have sunk to amazingly low levels as phone cameras have rapidly taken over the market. Starting with the Huawei P30 Pro's Leica camera, phone cameras now can be adjusted manually for aperature, speed, ISO, EV, and include automatic settings as well. The Huawei P30 includes a 5X telephoto to wide angle capability. The newest cameras from Apple, Samsung and (I suppose) Google's Pixel all include these capabilities, are waterproof to some degree, and generally provide all the functions of a 35 mm digital.

My camera group is going to have a discussion of the topic but I would like to hear from you about when you might favor a phone camera over a traditional digital camera, assuming you carry both. What can a phone camera NOT do?

Well, since you've taken all the best shots, what are the res of us supposed to photograph?

The world is not flat.

My approach to these problems is to squash the picture. You want the boards and side rails to meet at the bottom. You want the cables at the top to come near the corners. You have a vertical size limit relative to the width. Try a vertical squash to get both of these to happen. You'll lose some verticality in the mountains but not much.